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This Wood is on FIRE!

Edit 1 20 …

Table of Contents

The data showed no patterns or trends in the experiment because they are different sizes and species so they could not be the same or close to be the same. The relationship between the independent and the dependent are very strong because the wood type effects the burn rate which is the time in seconds. The question was Does wood type effect burn rate? That was answered which was yes it does effect. The wood type does effect the burn rate but I learned the size of the wood more because when people measured the wood in mass (g) the masses were all different. So when we burned it the time or burn rate was all different. But the specie of the wood was the same and red oak was the closest one to the same for example: the first trial was 2.13 then, 2.1, 2.08, 1.98, and then 2.09. They were all very close in seconds/ burn rate. experiment did not have any problems that would mess up the data but when we were burning the wood sometimes the matches that we used to light the wood on fire would not always light. This data could help people by letting them know what kind of wood would be best to burn and or buy the cheapest. It could help a lot of people by saving money and so then it would help time wise when the wood burns out too. The wood will also last longer because they know the type of wood that last longer. The people who it could help in the real world are wood stove owners, lumber people so they know what wood to cut and people who have to do another science fair project. This project could be advanced by testing more wood, bigger pieces of wood, and or using different lighting materials like matches, lighters blow torch you could see which one has more effect on the wood and which one burns the wood more. My results help science because it can prove that it does effect wood type and or burn rate. Just like if someone did a project on planting soil it would help science because then they know which plant soil would work the best. It would also benefit to society because it would tell the people of the world which wood is better and which wood last the longest. For example if they did it with planting soil it would benefit to society also because it is letting people for a fact that which one is better, and it is not an opinion.
You would never believe that wood type would effect the burn rate! This project was chosen because it is good to know what wood will last the longest in burning time. Doesn't it make you mad though because if you are a person who has a wood boiler, wood stove, or fire place who has spent so much money on the cheapest wood because you have to buy so much. Well try more expensive would and you will see the difference, it will last so much longer. For example the red oak was the most expensive and guess what it burnt the longest. Isn't that just amazing! Once again the cheapest wood was cedar but poplar was the second cheapest and besides the bigger piece of cedar it burnt the slowest. Yes, wood type does effect burn rate and always will! Also the size effects burn rate just as much! This experiment was just amazing!

Title

This Wood is on FIRE!

Problem Scenario

I want to know what would be the best wood to burn in our wood stove.Also which one burns slower so then we get more for our money.

Broad Question

Does wood type affect length for how long it burns for?

Specific Question

Does wood type affect burning rate?

Hypothesis

Yes, the cedar wood would burn the slowest out of pine, poplar, and red oak.


Graph of Hypothesis

emhu12_1 Hypothesis Graph.png

Variables

Independent Variable:

Wood Type

Dependent Variable:

Burning Rate (sec.)


Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Amount of Wood



General Plan

Have to get samples of different types of wood and then test which one burns the slowest. First measure the length of wood so they are exactly the same width and length. Then it will be really accurate because it is all the same besides the type of wood.

Potential Problems And Solutions

The problem is what wood, would be the best for lasting the longest.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

There are only really one safety concerns which is that the wood might catch other things on fire so then they don't burn down anything around them or that they set the fire alarms off.

Experimental Design

What is your experiment unit?

I am going to measure pieces of wood, burn rate and mass of wood in grams.

Number of Trials:

I will do five trials for each specie of wood.

Number of Subjects in Each Trial:

The number of subject will be four because four species of wood.

Number of Observations:

There will be twenty-five observations because I am doing five pieces of wood which are the same kind four times.

When Data will be Collected:

The data will be collected on the first of March.

Where will the Data be Collected:

The data will be collected in Mr. Biche's science room, in the fume hood.



Resources and Budget Table

Item
 Number needed
 Where I will get this
 Cost
Poplar Wood
 2
 Home Depot
 4.20
Red Oak Wood
 2
 Home Depot
 8.90
Ceder Wood
 2
 Home Depot
 3.58
Pine Wood
 2
 Home Depot
 4.92
Stop Watch/ Timer
 1
 Mrs. Powers
 0.00
















Detailed Procedure

1) Learn about how to do the experiment and what you need.
2)Buy the four different wood species red oak, cedar, pine and poplar.
3) Cut and measure the mass (g) of all the five pieces of wood.
4)Get a timer from Mrs. Powers.
5) Make a data table to record the data.
6) Make sure I can stay after school one day to use the fume hood in Mr. Biche's room.
7) Burn the wood in the fume hood.
8) Record all the data.
9) Make a data table on Google Drive.
10) Make Graph on Google Drive.
11)Finished!

Photo List

I going to take pictures of the wood before we burn it, during when we burn it and also after I burn it.

Time Line

emhu12_1 Science Fair Timeline.png

Data Table


Wood Type
 Mass (g) Before
Burned
 Mass (g) After
Burned
 Change in
Mass
 Time (sec.)
Red Oak
 2.13
 1.97
 0.16
 63
Red Oak
 2.1
 1.46
 0.64
 202
Red Oak
 2.08
 1.8
 0.28
 141
Red Oak
 1.98
 1.56
 0.42
 143
Red Oak
 2.09
 1.49
 0.6
 121
Poplar
 0.56
 0.46
 0.1
 71
Poplar
 1.83
 1.43
 0.4
 144
Poplar
 1.55
 1.15
 0.4
 126
Poplar
 1.19
 0.86
 0.33
 112
Poplar
 1.1
 0.78
 0.32
 89
Cedar
 1.18
 0.95
 0.23
 113
Cedar
 0.98
 0.65
 0.33
 81
Cedar
 2.09
 1.96
 0.13
 65
Cedar
 1.88
 1.52
 0.36
 124
Cedar
 1.24
 0.91
 0.33
 98
Pine
 1.54
 1.17
 0.37
 132
Pine
 1.52
 1.11
 0.41
 128
Pine
 1.65
 1.32
 0.33
 128
Pine
 2.03
 1.53
 0.5
 134
Pine
 1.94
 1.5
 0.44
 161



Data Analysis


Graphs

emhu12_1_Data Graph1.png


emhu12_1 Wood Type and Burning TIme Graph.png








Photos

emhu12_1 Wood Images fixed.jpg emhu12_1 Wood Burning Science Fair Project fixed.jpg emhu12_1 Science Fair Wood Images fixed.jpg emhu12_1 Science Fair Pictures fixed.jpg

Results

Wood type does effect the burn rate and also the size of wood effects the burn rate too. My hypothesis was wrong though but I still found out that it does effect the burn rate and always will. The experiment was fun to do and also to measure the mass (g) was a lot of fun but the best part was actually burning the wood.


Conclusion

The wood type does effect the burning rate. There were four different types of wood which were red oak, cedar, pine and poplar which were tested. The burn rate also depended on size but we we cut two big one and two small ones for each wood type, then it was even. The wood that had the fastest burning rate was red oak at 63 seconds and then right behind red oak was cedar with 65 seconds. The wood that burned the slowest was a bigger piece of red oak with 202 seconds. Yes, they are the same wood but different sizes effect the burn rate just as much as the wood type does.

Discussion

The data showed no patterns or trends in the experiment because they are different sizes and species so they could not be the same or close to be the same. The relationship between the independent and the dependent are very strong because the wood type effects the burn rate which is the time in seconds. The question was Does wood type effect burn rate? That was answered which was yes it does effect. The wood type does effect the burn rate but I learned the size of the wood more because when people measured the wood in mass (g) the masses were all different. So when we burned it the time or burn rate was all different. But the specie of the wood was the same and red oak was the closest one to the same for example: the first trial was 2.13 then, 2.1, 2.08, 1.98, and then 2.09. They were all very close in seconds/ burn rate. experiment did not have any problems that would mess up the data but when we were burning the wood sometimes the matches that we used to light the wood on fire would not always light. This data could help people by letting them know what kind of wood would be best to burn and or buy the cheapest. It could help a lot of people by saving money and so then it would help time wise when the wood burns out too. The wood will also last longer because they know the type of wood that last longer. The people who it could help in the real world are wood stove owners, lumber people so they know what wood to cut and people who have to do another science fair project. This project could be advanced by testing more wood, bigger pieces of wood, and or using different lighting materials like matches, lighters blow torch you could see which one has more effect on the wood and which one burns the wood more. My results help science because it can prove that it does effect wood type and or burn rate. Just like if someone did a project on planting soil it would help science because then they know which plant soil would work the best. It would also benefit to society because it would tell the people of the world which wood is better and which wood last the longest. For example if they did it with planting soil it would benefit to society also because it is letting people for a fact that which one is better, and it is not an opinion.


Benefit to Community and/or Science

The benefit to this is now people will know which wood would burn the slowest so they get there money's worth. They also will know to get the biggest piece and get red oak because that is the wood that burned the slowest. Buying this wood would help people save a lot of money today. There a lot of people that have wood stoves, wood boilers, and fire places that use a lot of wood a year during winter and sometime in the summer (camping wise).


Background Research

Wood comes in all different sizes and types. Did you ever think that wood type would effect the burn rate? Well it does, people can just take the different types of wood and they can see. But people right now just go camping and grab whatever wood is at the camp site or whatever wood is the cheapest. People shouldn't get the wood that is the cheapest, everyone knows it saves you money but would you rather save money by getting the wood that burns the longest but more expensive or the one the is cheaper and burns quicker. Just like if someone got a pair of shoes if you get them from Walmart they don't last as long and if someone gets them from NIKE then they will last longer. Everyone knows Walmart is cheaper but they do not have good quality.

Wood can effect a lot of things but people just don't know that. Wood also helps people all the time keeps people warm, cooks food, most common thing to do while camping and more. Don't you think people would want the best wood that would last the longest/ burn the longest. Maple and Oak are the most common wood species people buy. The bad thing is that they burn the fastest.

Some people don't know what burn rate is well it is how long the wood takes to burn. For this project we measured the burn rate to then find out if wood type effected burn rate. How you can measure it is you can time it with a timer or stop watch, also you could measure the mass before and after you burn the wood and look at the difference/burn rate that way. In this project that is what we did. When your measuring burn rate you have to be as accurate as possible so you have to try as many things to measure burn rate to get that accurate.


Abstract

You would never believe that wood type would effect the burn rate! This project was chosen because it is good to know what wood will last the longest in burning time. Doesn't it make you mad though because if you are a person who has a wood boiler, wood stove, or fire place who has spent so much money on the cheapest wood because you have to buy so much. Well try more expensive would and you will see the difference, it will last so much longer. For example the red oak was the most expensive and guess what it burnt the longest. Isn't that just amazing! Once again the cheapest wood was cedar but poplar was the second cheapest and besides the bigger piece of cedar it burnt the slowest. Yes, wood type does effect burn rate and always will! Also the size effects burn rate just as much! This experiment was just amazing!